Chris Christie’s Attempts at Wooing Sheldon Adelson Are Not Going Well

Update (12:40 P.M.): A representative for Morton Klein denied to VF Daily that New York magazine spoke to Klein directly about Sheldon Adelson, and claims that quotes to that effect are incorrect. In a phone call, New York contributing editor Steve Fishman stood by the quotes as written, amending his piece only to note that Klein was voicing "his own thoughts," when Klein asked, "Why did Christie do this? This was an insult."

And if Christie doesn’t soon refurbish his script to the likings of the Adelsons of the world, he’ll likely face a massive fiscal disadvantage in his still-unannounced bid for the White House. (Not that successfully winning over to the American pro-Israel lobby would be enough to guarantee a win, as Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney can attest.)

Speaking with New York magazine, Zionist Organization of America head Morton Klein said that he—and Adelson—were downright offended by Christie’s Sunday speech, which they apparently found lacking in pro-Israel bona fides. As you may remember, Christie had previously offended this crowd by referring to Palestine as “the occupied territories” in an earlier address to the Republican Jewish Coalition (known colloquially as the “Adelson Primary”). Never mind that Christie invoked the term in an unmistakably pro-Israel context; his exact words were “I took a helicopter ride from the occupied territories across and just felt personally how extraordinary that was to understand, the military risk that Israel faces every day.” These guys expect more from the men and women (O.K., they’re all men) who beg them for the right to run for president.

On Sunday night at Cipriani in New York, Governor Christie, eager to patch things up, lambasted Obama’s weaknesses as a leader and declared that America needs “to stand once again loudly for these values. And sometimes that's going to mean standing in some very messy, difficult places. Standing long and hard for those things that we believe in.”

The subtext was clear, but the audience wanted something more explicit—and, perhaps, something less easy to disavow in a general-election campaign. Apart from anything else, they wanted him to say the word Israel!

“Sheldon was concerned about the ‘occupied territory’ remark and he expected Christie would make amends and would express support for Israel and it didn’t happen,” Klein reported. “Sheldon, like others, was as perplexed and shocked and mystified. Why did Christie do this? This was an insult.”

After his speech, Christie sat down at a table with Adelson in what must have been an awkward, deflating moment for the governor. Other billionaires in attendance included Michael Steinhardt, the man who funds the Taglit-Birthright Israel program that sends young Jews from around the world to Israel free of charge.

Adelson has said he plans to outspend his $100 million 2012 effort, a pledge that incentivizes Christie and others to continue following him around the nation like so many ducklings. So what is the governor’s next move? Should he go the Rand Paul way, introducing a bill so radically anti-Palestinian and misguided that even the American Israel Public Affairs Committee denounced the Kentucky senator? Or should he instead give up and devote his cross-country trips and dinner speeches to courting other lobbies?

On second thought, the decision may not be his to make. After the dinner, Klein told New York, “Chris Christie is no friend of Israel.”